Apparatus for degerminating and reducing grain



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O. S. RIDER. Apparatus for Degel minating and Reducing Grain.

No. 233,553. Patented Oct. 19,1880.

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ILFETERS, PHUTD-LITHOGRAPHER. WASHINGTON. a c

UNITED STATES CHARLES S. RIDER,

PATENT OF CANTON, OHIO.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 233,553, dated October 19, 1880,

Application filed June 22, 1880. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, CHARLES S. RIDER, of Canton, in the county of Stark and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Machines for Degerminating and Reducing Grain; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact deing grain and gradually reducing it to flour without comminuting the bran.

It has been attempted to accomplish these results by means of rotating corrugated disks but it has been found that these disks are liable to produce, to a greater or less extent, the same evils that are produced by the ordinary millstones-that is to say, they unavoidably and violently rub the grain during the process of degerminating and reducing, producing a high degree of heat. Moreover, thecorruga tions with which the disks are provided cause an unavoidable cutting and comminution of the bran, notwithstanding the greatest efforts to prevent it.

1 accomplish the result above described by means of a revolving roller or holder provided with a series of holding cavities, and a reciprocating press or crusher having a direct rectilinear thrust upon the material to be reduced, both the revolving part and the reciprocating part being provided with perfectly smooth hard reducing-surfaces.

With my improved mechanism I have overcome the difficulties that have been met with in attempting to reduce grain by either millstones, corrugated disks, or crushing-rollers.

Figure 1 is a longitudinal vertical section of the machine-on line w 00, Fig. 3. Fig. 2 is a transverse vertical section on line y y, Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is an end elevation. Fig. 4 is an end view of the roller and crusher detached.

The frame in which are mounted the operative parts of the machine is represented in the drawings as consisting of the end pieces, A A, a front-side piece, B, a rear-side piece, B, and

two sills or beams, (J 0. These parts I prefer to form of cast-iron so shaped as to be readily and securely bolted together.

D represents an upper, and D a lower, aperture formed in the end piece, A, of the frame, and E and E represent corresponding apertures in the opposite end piece, A. All of these apertures are preferably square in outline, and serve purposes to be explained.

F is a roller supported in the lower part of the frame by means of a shaft, G, to which it is secured. or bearings g g, which are respectively situated in the apertures D and E. These boxes are arranged to be adjusted by the following means: H H are horizontalcleats secured to or formed with the respective end pieces. h h and h h are vertical cleats or guides extend- .ing upwardly from the cleats H H, there being a flange, 71?, extending inwardly from each of the cleats to partially cover the apertures D and E. The boxes g and g project somewhat beyond the end pieces, A and A, so as to be partially situated within the chambers or spaces formed by the above-described flanged cleats.

I I are keys or rods of varying thicknesses, upon which rest the projecting parts of the boxes 9 9. These rods project beyond the edge of the machine and are screw-threaded at their outer ends.

I I are perforated parallel arms secured to the sides of the frame, the rods I I passing through the perforations therein. 13 tare nuts engaging with the threaded parts of rods I I, one being situated between each pair of arms I 1 It will be seen that by means of these nuts i i the rods I can be thrust in either direction to bring either a thicker or a thinner part of the rods beneath the bearings g g, and that the roller F can be thus readily adjusted vertically with great nicety.

K K are set-screws passing-through the vertical cleats h h, and bearing against the sides of the boxes 9 g, by means of which the roller can be adjusted laterally.

In order to hold the bearings of the roller firmly down upon the keys I I, and at the same time permit them to be raised when necessary, I place strong springs, M M, above them, of

The shaft G is mounted in boxes I sufficient tension to serve the purpose named. The springs may be metallic or of rubber, as shown in the drawings.

L represents a plunger or reciprocating crusher mounted above the roller F and in the same vertical plane. Upon the inside of each of the end pieces, A and A, guide-pieces H are secured to form ways for the ends of the plunger. This plunger or crusher may be reciprocated in any ordinary or desired manner. I prefer to operate it by mechanism substantially similar to that shown.

N is a shaft situated in the upper part of the frame and mounted in movable bearings m m, each partly situated in and partly projecting beyond the apertures l) and E, respectively.

These bearings are supported in ways by horizontal flanged cleats m m and vertical cleats m which permit them to be laterally adjusted by means of set-screws m.

The bearings of the crusher shaft may be arranged to be vertically adjustable also; but under ordinary circumstances the distance between the crusher and'the roller can be sufficiently regulated by the devices for vertically adjusting the roller F.

The shaft N carries two cams or eccentrics, N N, situated immediately inside the ends of the frame. The crusher is provided with a longitudinal aperture, L, to receive the shaft N, and with recesses a a, wherein the cams N N are seated. As the shaft N revolves, the cams raise and lower the crusher, as will be readily understood.

The shafts N and G project beyond the frame, the upper carrying a spurwheel, N and a band-wheel, N and the lower carrying a spur-wheel, F, meshing with wheel N I prefer to construct these motive parts as shown-that is to say, so that the crusher-shaft shall be rotated four times while the lower is rotated once.

The grain is fed between the reducing-surfaces from a chamber, 0, to which it is supplied from a hopper, O.

1? represents an inclined guide at the bottom of the chamber 0, arranged to guide the grain toward the roller F.

Q is a gate situated near the edge of the guide 1?. It projects through the top of the frame, and is vertically adjustable by means of set-screws q g. This gate enables the operator to regulate with great exactness the quantity of grain to be fed to the reducingsurfaces. The guide P and gate Q both extend the full length of roller F.

R represents a flexible curtain or supplemental guide, attached to the lower part of the guide P. It is formed of rubber or leather, or other suitable flexible material, and is arranged to have its outer edge always in confact with the roller F, so that no grain shall slide from the roller, but is narrow enough to avoid being struck by the crusher L when it descends. (See Fig. 4.)

The roller F and the crusher L, I prefer to make of chilled iron, having found that material very effective in attaining my objects. Other materials, however, may be employed, provided thatavery hard and perfectly smooth surface can be produced thereon. The roller F is not cylindrical, as are the commonly-used crushing-rollers, but is formed with four equal sides. The faces of these sides are depressed or made concave, as shown atff, in order to hold the grain to greater advantage while it is being reduced. The lower edge or face of the crusher L is rounded or made convex, as shown atf, in order to correspond exactly to the concave surfaces f f. The relative positions of the roller and the crusher when the latter is at the end of its upward movement are shown in Fig. 2. Their positions at the time they are operating upon the grain are shown in Fig. 4.

The machine shown in the drawings and above described is one of a series of similar machines of a number great enough to accomplish the complete reduction of the grain.

The roller F, attached to the first machine, is adjusted vertically to make the shortest distance between it and the crusher equal to about (or a little greater than) one-half the shortest diameter of a berry of wheat. The machine is then put in motion, and the grain is fed to the reducingsurfaces. The berries of grain T T at this operation are each merely split into two pieces on the line of the crease. (See Fig. 4.) This detaches the germ, which, as is well known, must be entirely removed in order to produce fine flour. Moreover, the fuzzy and dirty part of the berry (viz., that part of the surface within the crease) is by this splitting of the berry exposed, so that it can be very easily cleaned before the grain is further reduced to flour.

The products of the first operation (the divided berries and the liberated germs) are conveyed by a hopper, S, to a screen or reel or scalping-machine, where the germ, dirt, and fine particles are removed in the ordinary manner. The cracked or split berries, after being thus cleaned, are carried to another similar reducing-machine, in which the reducing-surfaces are set somewhat nearer together than in the first.

The product of the second operation is treated (in a manner similar to that described) for removing middlings and flour, and these operations are repeated until a complete reduction of the grain is accomplished.

The successive operations may be performed with a single machine, if desired, the parts of which must be adjusted according to the required fineness of reduction.

As the cams N N are constantly engaged with the crusher its movements are at all times positive and even, the parts being arranged to avoid jarring.-

1 have found by practical test that about one-half the power necessary to reduce a quantity of wheat to flour bymeans of rolls or disks is required for the machine I have described to reduce the same amount. Moreover, by my construction I am enabled to avoid the great rubbing that is caused when rotary devices of any character are used, which results in heating the flour to an undesirable degree, as is well known.

What I claim is- 1. In a machine for reducing grain to flour, the combination, with the roller F, having the cavities f, and constructed with a hard smooth surface, of the rectilinearly-moving crusher L, having the rounded face f, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

2. The combination, with the roller F and the crusher L, of the tapering adjusting-rods H H, arranged to support said roller, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

3. The combination, with rollerF and crusher L, of the spring M and the adjusting-rods H, respectively arranged to bear against the upper and the lower sides of the bearings of the roller, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

4. In a machine for reducing grain to-fiour, the combination, with a rectilinearly-reciproeating crusher and a roller arranged to receive the grain upon an inclined surface and carry it beneath the crusher, of the curtain R, situated upon the side of the roller opposite to that from which the crushed material is deli"- ered, and arranged, substantially as described, to prevent the grain from escaping from the roller before it reaches the crusher, as set forth.

5. Ina machine for reducing grain to flour, the combination, with a rectilinearly-moving crusher and an opposing holding-surface arranged to hold the grain in the path of the crusher and to move to and from said path, of mechanism which moves the crusher toward the holding-surface, substantially as set forth.

6. In a machine for reducin g grain to flour, the combination, with a rectilinearly-moving crusher, an opposing surface which holds the grain in the path of the crusher, and mechanism which moves the crusher toward the opposing surface, of an adjusting mechanism arranged, substantially as described, to regulate the distance between the crusher and the opposing surface which holds the material.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing I 50 have hereunto set my hand. 

